Mouth-to-Beak Resuscitation

A guy in Colorado, Uegene Safken, is making headlines because of his claim that he resuscitated a chicken who had fallen into a tub of water and seemed to be dead. He says he gave it mouth-to-beak resuscitation.

Safken said he first swung the chicken by the feet to revive it. When that failed, he continued swinging and blowing into its beak. "Then one eye opened. I thought it was an involuntary response," Safken said. The chicken's beak opened a little wider, and Safken started yelling at it: "You're too young to die!" "Every time I'd yell at him, he'd chirp," Safken said.

Comments

I just love the visual from his description of him him swinging the chicken around yelling "You're too young to die!"

Posted by Winona in USA on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 08:34 AM

I find that impressive that "he continued swinging and blowing into its beak". How do you swing a chicken by its feet AND blow into its beak?

Posted by Pickle on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 09:05 AM

There's a chicken trick that has to do w/ swinging it. If you hold a chicken by her feet (don't think this works w/ roosters, only b/c roosters will not tolerate being held upside down, they always try to flap back up into an upright position), swing her a few times, then get her righted & slowly sit her on the ground. She'll just sit there until you disturb her. OR, you can force the chicken to sit on the ground, with it's beak near the ground also, useing a pencil, or your finger touch the top of the chicken's head & slowly drag your finger between the eyes, over the beak, then to the ground, & draw a line in the dirt. The chicken will sit & watch the line until you disturb the chicken or the line.

I love chicken tricks. This is how we used to get them docile, in order to let little kids pet them, or look at them.

Posted by Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 09:12 AM

That sounds remarkably similar to the trick for getting a very stubborn baby to go to sleep, which unfortunately only works on the younger ones. You simply run your finger down its forehead and nose when it's tired. Reflex causes the eyes to close, which is usually all it takes.
Guinea pigs can also be calmed or, possibly, hypnotized by stroking the nose, though in this case one strokes upward, with the lay of the fur.

Posted by Ledasmom on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 09:33 AM

A friend of mine was telling me about his grandfather who was living back in the Phillipines that used to (often) go into gales of laughter by blowing air on a chicken's anus, becuase it would make the chicken freak out and cluck like a maniac.

I was always a little creeped out by that.

As for babies, I used to get the kiddo to sleep by just stroking his left eyebrow over and over. My Mum used to do this to us. It is pretty hypnotic.

I used to do the same trick with my Guinea as you did, Ledasmom.

Posted by Winona in USA on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 09:45 AM

Yeah, right. It was pervert foreplay and he got caught. The oldest ab lib excuse in the book. "It was mouth-to-mouth, no way was I kissing a chicken..."

Posted by Poglov on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 10:04 AM

People dangling keys does it for me.

Posted by Chadds Ford Prefect on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 02:07 PM

aww that's so sweet
i saw once on the news, that a pregnant mother deer was ran over by the car right? The mother died, but the baby inside was still alive and was about to be born! so the police cut open the mother or something like that and brought the baby out. but the baby wasn't breathing, luckily there was a vet there and starts to give mouth to mouth to the baby deer, then soon the fawn starts breathing and lived =D it was such a lovely story. And it's a real story, i saw it happen on the news.

Posted by yushi on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 03:19 PM

Some guy trying to resuscitate a chicken does bring to mind some pretty funny pictures...

Posted by Mark-N-Isa in Midwest USA on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 06:09 PM

MnJ, especially if he has to do what Meagan suggested at 7:12AM:

"you can force the chicken to sit on the ground, with it's beak near the ground also, useing a pencil, or your finger touch ..."

Would this be the 'Neverland Ranch?'

Posted by Chadds Ford Prefect on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 07:02 PM

Yay! Someone saved the life of a chicken! Every life is precious, even animal life!

Let's go to KFC to celebrate!

Posted by Barghest on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 07:20 PM

Ha...A friend and I stopped at a KFC and saw a car bumper sticker that said something like "Meat is Murder." So, we're talking about it as we were ordering, and the girl at the counter says, "That's MY car." OOooookay, you work at KFC, but think Meat is MURDER?

Posted by Maegan in Tampa, FL - USA on Wed Apr 20, 2005 at 09:08 AM

I guess he didn't want to choke his chicken.

Posted by X in McKinney, TX on Wed Apr 20, 2005 at 10:29 AM

"...back in the Phillipines that used to (often) go into gales of laughter by blowing air on a chicken's anus,..."

I think it's safe to say that folks in the Philippines must be fairly hard up for entertainment.

Posted by Big Gary C in Dallas, Texas on Thu Apr 21, 2005 at 04:36 PM

Mouth-to-beak gets chicken clucking again

February 9, 2006
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- This chicken had lips, just not her own.

A retired nurse saved her brother's chicken, Boo Boo, by administering mouth-to-beak resuscitation last week after the fowl was found floating face-down in the family's pond.
Marian Morris said she hadn't had any practice with CPR in years, but she was interested to see if she ''still had it.''
''I breathed into its beak, and its dadgum eyes popped open,'' Morris said. ''I breathed into its beak again, and its eyes popped open again. I said, 'I think this chicken's alive now. Keep it warm.'"
Boo Boo's owners, Jackie and Becky Calhoun, put her in a large cardboard box containing a grain feeder and water. They also placed a heater nearby. The chicken is called Boo Boo because she is easily frightened. The Calhouns said they thought Boo Boo was startled and flopped into the pond.